Himoto Sora
Himoto Sora (緋本 ソラ) is the main character of Shitsurakuen. Sora is a transfer student with a sense of justice and dreams of becoming a knight who protects her princess. Due to a glitch in the Academy's entrance system, Sora's dream more of less turned into reality when she learned of the virtual reality game, Exaclan, that is played within the borders of Utopia Gakuen. Distraught at the rules implemented in a game where competitors use women as tools, as well as prizes reserved only for the winner, Sora took it upon herself the task of challenging the Student Council, Iwahijiri (who oversees the Exaclan matches taking place within the Academy), by becoming the first ever female participant with the intention of saving all the oppressed girls (her "princesses") from their abusive owners. Character Design Sora is a teenage girl, slender and slightly tall for her age who sports long red hair, that both frames her face reaches down to her thighs, which she keeps in a ponytail that trails behind her head. Due to an event involving Tsuki in her youth, Sora sports a thin, cross-shaped scar on her forehead that is normally obscured by her bangs. She is normally seen wearing the standard attire for Utopia High female students, with the only difference is that rather than a skirt, she is given a pair of tight short pants Personality She is honorable, but not very bright. Often, Sora would let her actions speak for her. Apart from her chivalrous demeanor, Sora seems to be a firm believer in inherent goodness in everyone. Because of this, she is capable of seeing through the facades of Date Reiko and Togyu Shirou. However, her naiveté can lead her into trouble; for example, she trusted Shishidou Hiyo completely, not realizing that she was actually helping Togyu. Also, she trusts in Karin, who is really L in disguise. Story The Knight Arrives Himoto Sora comes to Utopia Academy with her long-time friend Aoi Tsuki, who has attended the school since middle school. They are first seen standing side-by-side, on-board a bus taking them over to Academy. Sora was almost ecstatic upon learning that she got accepted, stating that someone in the world has finally acknowledged her value of existence. Upon disembarking, she follows Tsuki around as Tsuki conducts a little tour for Sora around Utopia's borders. During the tour, Sora notices that most, if not all, the girls they walked passed by were rather sad and displeased - not even one of them were smiling. She continuous to follow Tsuki around, only to later get side-tracked when she saw a large group of people has gathered around in a circle, with apparently something in the middle being the center of attention. Upon observing closely, she spots a pair of men, both standing and wielding weapons, the first holding a gun and the second man on his knees while holding a dagger; both of them were also standing next to a depressed girl each. She also notices that both men were wearing a single glove similar to the one she had been sent with as part of her attire. Dismissing the fact that students were wielding weapons within the Academy's boundaries must be due to some kind of game, Sora continues to watch and sees the first man point out to the second that there was now way for a small blade to beat a firearm, and out of frustration, the latter broke the dagger, much to the shock of the girl next to him, who for some reason, writhed in pain and then instantly fell to the ground unconscious. The second man, however, did not seem to take notice, and even proceeded to to toss away the dagger her deliberately broke, which de-materialized upon hitting the ground. After that, he handed over the unconscious girl to the first man, stating that he has no use for a useless "possession". Appalled at what she had just witnessed, Sora did not even noticed that Tsuki has returned to her side; Sora was about to go after the injured girl with the intent to aid her, only to be pulled back by Tsuki (by the strap on Sora's duffle bag), who urged her that it is unwise to act while knowing very little of the circumstances around the Academy. Before she could drag Sora away, however, they were suddenly approached by a bespectacled boy who politely asked if he could "own" Sora, promising to protect her. Sora seems to takes this offer the wrong way and simply brushed past him. Tsuki later explains to Sora that what she saw earlier was called Exaclan, a virtual-reality type game propagated in Utopia Gakuen where players use the female student body as "possessions" and commodities. She reveals that it was instigated by Iwahijiri some time ago to further emphasize male supriority and oppression over the fairer sex. Upon leaning that it has been going on for at least 3 years now, Sora decided that her time to emerge as a "Knight" has come; she opted set things right, only to be further informed by Tsuki of the penalties that are also held within the Academy, that will be inflicted not only to the any perpetrator who dares to disrupt the order in the school, but also to any "possession" involved Shortly after Tsuki left, Sora was left pondering to herself on what to do in a place ruled with principles that go directly against everything she believes in. She faintly notices that almost all the boys in class were staring at her, most likely because they are now aware of her transferee status and are now contemplating on whether or not they should "own" her. But more importantly, Tsuki's not being at Sora's side at the time seems to be starting to gain its toll on the redhead, to the point where she subconsciously flew into a brief tantrum due to her inability to interact with the other girls in Utopia. Two men then approached her, asking Sora if she wants to have a conversation; before they can get a reply, however, they were unintentionally interrupted by a passing girl who accidentally dropped some of her belongings. One of the men seemed to take this as a personal insult, and loomed over the girl, ready to smack her. Sora unexpectedly got up and took the blow for her, upsetting several of the bystanders. Once the tension cooled down, the girl whom Sora saved approached her, asking if Sora was alright, to which Sora replied that she wasn't, and then asking if she could become her friend. The First Battle and A Pledge to Protect When Koharu was being violated by Kajiwara Shinji, Sora comes to the scene and demands that he releases her. In revenge, Shinji activates an Exaclan battle, pulling a rifle out of Koharu and begins to shoot at Sora. While running away from Shinji, Sora was suddenly pulled into the bushes by someone who covered her mouth to prevent Sora from making any noise. Upon inspecting her rescuer, she saw a beautiful masked woman, who made her duck just in time from another one of Shinji's shots. Sora begins to realize that even though she proclaims to herself as a knight who vows to protect her princess, she has yet to protect anyone in this chauvinistic environment. Sora begins to cry, and the woman, taking notice of this, said to Sora to "use" her to protect the girls in the Academy. Sora obeyed, and slipped on her white glove; the masked girl then instructs Sora to recite the vow to obtain ownership of her by reciting that Sora will "own and protect" her, to which Sora declines, stating that rather than "owning" the "princess", she will treasure her as a knight should, and then kissed the back of the girl's hand. After kissing the girl's hand, a huge beam of light shoots out of her chest, which forms into an energy spear that Sora wields. Sora charges and slices through Shinji, resulting in his defeat. As the energy spear dissipates, Koharu runs over to Sora, hugging with tears in her eyes. Sora sympathizes with the girl, musing that Koharu must have had a hard time serving under someone like Shinji as his "possession", but gets the shock of her life when Koharu suddenly straightened up and declared that she will now unquestioningly serve Sora as her new master, much to the latter's surprise Battles Relationships Akane Given the circumstances surrounding Utopia Academy, Sora is seldom seen interacting with any member of the male student body, except towards those whom she wholly trusts. Akane is one of them due to his sincerity. He is actually the first boy whom Sora interacts with upon her arrival. Aoi Tsuki She is Sora's best friend and childhood friend. She was also the first to kiss Sora when they first met and implied it as her "greeting" trying to show herself as "weird" before leaving. Right after, Sora kissed her back and said that it was also her "greeting" and smiled, Tsuki and Sora became friends after this. Tsuki was determined that Sora is her "Knight" and hers only. In spite of this, Tsuki was enraged hearing that Sora wants to protect everyone being convinced by El, she gave Sora an "x" on her forehead as a mark of "Princess Ix" in the story, a mark of her property alone, she used the knife in wounding El's eye. Sora had no choice but to swear that she will protect Tsuki and that she is her "Knight" alone. She forgot all this after entering school and regained her memories once more after trying to rescue Tsuki. Several years pass after Sora wins the battle against the school's traditions, implied to be slightly more than ten, after leaving El and Akane behind on a hill, she ran to a tree finding Tsuki sitting under it with an aloof expression. As Sora knelt, an angry Tsuki quickly stood up trying to leave but Sora grabbed her hand from behind while attaining her posture. Sora confessed right after and told Tsuki to "Please marry me!". She denied at first but then called Sora "Idiot" after hearing Sora admit she wanted more than just an expression of love with Tsuki before they kissed. Sora and Tsuki later had their wedding with their old classmates in their school uniform as dress code, additionally serving as a graduation of sorts for them all. Skills Even without a Weapon, Sora seems to be a fairly capable fighter who can defend herself for a decent amount of time against men about twice her size, as seen in chapter 2, where she managed to fell two of three guys right before the third managed to sneak up behind her and restrained her from behind (Karin had to intervene after that). Sora seems to be an adept combatant, able to grasp the basics of fighting under a very short set amount of time. Perhaps the most monumental proof of this attribute was the fact that she wielded X's for the very first time with surprising proficiency to defeat Kajiwara Shinji. Appearances in Other Media Omakes Himoto Sora appears in the Shitsurakuen omakes. #'April Omake (14.5)' :Sora is shown to have super-hearing, being able to hear Koharu's cries from the other side of the campus. After defeating Shinji yet another time, she rescues Koharu. She is also shown to like Tomoko's odangos. Gallery 39 clean.png|Sora gets married to Tsuki Vol 3 op.jpg Vol 1 op.jpg Vol 6 cover.png|Sora and Tsuki in the cover of Volume 6 Category:Protagonist Category:Female Category:Characters